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This 8-Ingredient Pea Pesto Pasta recipe is Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, and Healthy! Made with Fresh Basil and Toasted Pine Nuts, this meal is great for a tasty Dinner or Meal Prep.
Not-so-fun-fact: I used to hate Pesto for a solid 4-5 years because of one bad experience that led to an upset tummy. However, I’m happy to report that that phase as passed — now I’m practically pesto-obsessed.
This Pea Pesto Pasta is certainly no exception! It’s yummy, zesty, and packs a little extra Plant-Based Protein with the help of Peas. I used Fresh Peas, but if you don’t have any on hand frozen will work too! Plus I threw some Arugula in there for some extra #health — and because I think it complements the flavors of the Pesto nicely.
Not only is this meal hearty, healthy, and delicious, but it is also super easy to prepare! You only need 7 ingredients total (including the Pasta), and everything comes together in less than 30 minutes. How’s that for an easy weeknight meal?
A Few Final Thoughts:
- You can use any pasta you’d like for this recipe! I used these Gluten-Free Shells made from Chickpeas.
- If you choose to use Frozen Peas, I would suggest using a little extra (as indicated in the recipe). I find the volume of Frozen Peas seems to reduce more after cooking.
- This recipe is great for Meal Prep! I would suggest mixing the Pesto sauce with the Pasta to prevent it from drying out. Or, you can make all of the Pesto at once, but cook an additional batch of Pasta mid-week to keep it fresh 🙂
If you’re looking for more Vegan Pasta recipes, you’ll also love this Pasta with Romesco Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower and this One Pot Spinach & Artichoke Pasta!
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
PrintPea Pesto Pasta (Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free)
This 8-Ingredient Pea Pesto Pasta recipe is Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, and Healthy! Made with Fresh Basil and Toasted Pine Nuts, this meal is great for a tasty Dinner or Meal Prep.
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10 Minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 16 oz. Pasta of Choice
- ½ cup Pine Nuts
- 2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 2 cups Fresh Peas (or 2 ¼ cup Frozen)
- 3–4 cloves Garlic
- 2 cup Fresh Basil, packed
- Juice & Zest of 1 Lemon
- Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)
- 1+ tbsp Filtered Water
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 cup Fresh Arugula
Instructions
- Cook your Pasta according to package instructions; drain and set aside.
- In the meantime, add the Pine Nuts to a medium saucepan. Toast over Medium-High heat for 3-4 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Stir continuously with a spatula to prevent burning.
- Transfer the Pine Nuts to a separate dish, then return the saucepan to the heat. Add the Nutritional Yeast to the pan and toast for 45-60 seconds, until golden brown. Set aside.
- Add the Fresh Peas and Garlic Cloves to the same pan, then cover with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 5-7 minutes, until tender. Drain.
- Next, prepare the Pesto. Add the Garlic Cloves, 1 cup of Cooked Peas, the Basil, Lemon Juice and Zest, Red Pepper, Nutritional Yeast, and Salt to a Food Processor. Set 2 tbsp of the toasted Pine Nuts to the side, then add the remainder of them to the machine as well. Blend on high until well incorporated – the mixture should be pretty uniform, but not completely smooth.
- Add Filtered Water to the Food Processor 1 tbsp increments, blending until smooth. The Pesto sauce should be thick and creamy, but not runny.
- Finally, add the remaining cooked Peas, Pesto Sauce, and Fresh Arugula to the pot of drained Pasta; reheat if necessary. Divide the pasta into bowls, and top with the remaining toasted Pine Nuts.
- Refrigerate leftovers in a sealed container for up to 6 days.
Notes
- You can use any pasta you’d like for this recipe! I used these Gluten-Free Shells made from Chickpeas.
- I have not tested this recipe with any substitutions for the Pine Nuts. However, I believe you could substitute them for equal parts Pumpkin Seeds, if you have an allergy.
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Yummers. First recipe from your blog
I even had seconds for dinner (and didn’t feel guilty at all lol) Subbed spinach for the arugula because I didn’t have arugula lol. Also tried the chickpea past. Can’t wait to try another recipe
★★★★★
So happy to hear you liked it!
that was soooooo goood!!!! the flavor was intense and it was so creamy!????
★★★★★
Thanks for letting us know how much you liked it!
Have you tried freezing this, did it work out? Looks delicious!
You can freeze and re-use the pesto, but I would not freeze and reheat pasta (just to clarify!)
I served this with the red lentil sedanini from Trader Joe’s and it made for a really filling, delicious meal that even the carnivores in my family enjoyed! I ended up boiling only two of the four cloves of garlic and mincing the remaining ones raw, as I like the bite of raw garlic, and adding another raw clove after everything was blended. I also included a bit more lemon juice to balance the sweetness of the peas and replaced about half of the basil with spinach simply because our tired little basil plant didn’t yield enough – it still worked out great. I can imagine putting this sauce to a variety of other uses, such as spreading it on sourdough toast or layering it with noodles, tofu ricotta, and roasted vegetables for a green lasagna.
★★★★
I’m giving this four stars instead of five because it was amazingly delicious yesterday when I made it but today is so dried out 🙁 I was super excited to die this for my meal prep lunches adding the arugula separately each day so it would stay fresh. Do you have any suggestions for livening it up? Might have to just make another batch of the pesto to add separately each day as well to keep it creamy. Either way, it was delicious and I will definitely make it again, just probably not as a meal prep. Thanks for the awesome ideas though! This blog is awesome.
Hi Alicia,
You could continue to thin the sauce out with almond milk or water if you’d like! Unfortunately all pastas dry out over time – until some scientist comes up with a way to counteract that, I think that is just a fact of life 😉
What a beautiful pasta! Banza is also my favorite chickpea pasta brand! Did you add any nonstick spray or water to the pan before toasting your pine nuts, or did you use a nonstick skillet to do so? I would reckon that the pine nuts might leave residue if they accidentally burn!
I used a nonstick pan!
I made the pesto sauce last night as semi-meal prep for the week (i.e. just cook fresh pasta on the night I want to eat it). I used baby spinach leaves, homemade vegan parmesan and a handful of cashew nuts because I was too lazy to go to the shop for pine nuts and fresh basil. What a winner though! The sauce is not even going to make it for pasta because I tried it on sourdough toast and ate almost half immediately 🙂 I think this would also be good on a baked potato or maybe stirred through some rice as a side dish? My colleagues also had a taste and raved about it. Thanks Caitlin for the inspiration!
★★★★★
Ooooh yes – now I want to try it on toast!
What’s the purpose of toasting the nutritional yeast and nuts? Could I get away without doing that?
It improves the depth of flavor of the dish – I would not recommend skipping it as it only takes ~5 min and is really easy to do!
How much cooked peas does this make? I want to make it but I only have canned peas and don’t know how much to use!
It should make a little under 2 cups!
Hi! Really excited to try this recipe but I don’t access to fresh basil. Would substituting a bit of dry with some other leafy green work? Thanks!
You could use 2-3 tsp of Dried Basil, but I would add in 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves for volume 🙂
I made this with walnuts and pistachios. It was super tasty!! Thank you for sharing.
What a great idea!